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Editor’s reading
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Onchain metrics: define the observation before telling a story
Interpret active addresses, transfer value, fees, and locked assets without pretending they directly count people or demand.
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Trading volume quality: inspect what was counted and where
Separate spot turnover, derivatives notional, liquidity depth, and suspicious patterns before comparing markets.
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Market capitalization: useful arithmetic with important limits
Calculate circulating and diluted valuations while separating marginal price, supply estimates, liquidity, and token rights.
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Crypto research sources: build a claim-to-evidence trail
Use documentation, code, governance records, and independent observations without confusing first-party claims with proof.
Desk notes
Further reading
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How to read a crypto whitepaper as a testable argument
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Bitcoin UTXOs: why a balance consists of individual outputs
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Bitcoin confirmations: reading settlement as a process
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Bitcoin fees: calculate cost before choosing a speed
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What a Bitcoin full node verifies for you
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Bitcoin custody: who can authorize a withdrawal?
02 / Explore the complete library
The mechanism, explained
Go beyond the headline: understand how the moving parts fit together.
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Bitcoin mining: from candidate block to accepted history
Connect proof of work, validation, pool shares, and operating economics without confusing their roles.
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Ethereum accounts: addresses, keys, contracts, and nonces
Read account behavior without confusing a wallet application, an address, and the authority behind it.
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Ethereum gas: distinguish work, price, and spending caps
Calculate a hypothetical fee and learn why a reverted transaction can still cost ETH.
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Ethereum finality: from a quick receipt to finalized settlement
Understand head, justified and finalized checkpoints, and why application receipts can arrive before finality.
Practical reading
Worked examples, verification steps and the limits of each tool.
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Smart contracts: inspect the rules and the people who can change them
Learn what deployed code guarantees, what it cannot know, and how upgrades change the trust picture.
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Token approvals: understand the permission before the swap
Separate allowances, signatures, transfers, and website connections when controlling token access.
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Token supply: read minting, burning, vesting, and circulation separately
Trace who can create units and distinguish a contract supply field from a market-data estimate.
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Token decimals: translate raw balances without changing value
Use unit conversions correctly and avoid mistakes when comparing token balances, prices, and supply.
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Stablecoin mechanics: identify the route back to the target value
Compare reserve-backed, collateral-backed, and reflexive designs by tracing redemption and incentives.
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Stablecoin reserves: read the assets, liabilities, and access terms
Evaluate reserve disclosures without confusing a balance snapshot, an attestation, and a full financial audit.
Questions worth asking
Read the assumptions before drawing a conclusion.
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DeFi collateral: calculate the buffer before borrowing
Understand loan-to-value, liquidation thresholds, interest accrual, and the limits of a collateral buffer.
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AMM liquidity: what a pool position actually owns
Explore reserve curves, fee income, inventory changes, and why providing liquidity differs from holding tokens.
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DEX slippage: distinguish the quote, price impact, and tolerance
Read minimum output and deadlines before a swap, and understand why a successful trade can disappoint.
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Oracle design: examine where a protocol gets its facts
Evaluate data sources, update rules, freshness checks, and failure behavior in oracle-dependent applications.
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Blockchain bridges: trace the claim on both sides
Understand lock-and-mint, liquidity routes, message verification, and why a familiar symbol can conceal a new asset.
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Rollups: separate execution speed from settlement guarantees
Compare optimistic and validity-based rollups, including data publication, sequencers, upgrades, and exits.